The Vital Role of Commercial Imagery in Military OperationsBy Sandra Irwin, SpaceNews: “Rising military powers like Russia and China have built an elaborate network of sensors to monitor regions of the world that are of strategic importance to the United States. A mix of military and commercial surveillance and targeting technologies is helping both Russia and China extend the reach of their long-range weapons, undermining U.S. access and influence in regions such as Eastern Europe and the South China Sea.”

CHINA: China’s Navy Inducts 2 More Sub Killer Stealth WarshipsBy Franz-Stefan Gady, The Diplomat: “The two new warships, Guangyuan (hull number 552) and Suining (hull number 551), were commissioned on November 16 and 28 respectively at a naval base in Guangzhou, Guangdong province in southern China. Both vessels will serve in the PLAN's South Sea Fleet, the force responsible for Chinese naval operations in the South China Sea.”

RUSSIA: Prince Vladimir Submarine Sets Sail – Russia's New Nuclear Subs From Digital Forensic Research Lab: “On November 17, the submarine Knyaz Vladimir / Prince Vladimir (Князь Владимир) set sail for the first time. The submarine is the first of five upgraded Borei-A class submarines currently under construction. @DFRLabtook a deeper look into the newly developed submarine and overall Russian naval-based strategic deterrence trends.”

RUSSIA: Russia's New Sukhoi Su-30SM1 Fighter By Dave Majumdar, The National Interest: “The Russians are expected to take delivery of some 17 Su-30SMs this year. Together with the Su-35S and the Su-34 Fullback bomber, the potent multirole fighter will form the backbone of the Russian Air Force even after advanced aircraft such as the Sukhoi T-50 PAK-FA enters service. ​

Editorial: The U.S. has never had a more dysfunctional or less effective relationship with post-Soviet Russia than it does today. While it is more than fair to blame that dysfunction on Putin—and on Trump, Medvedev, Obama, and other heads of state past and present—I am afraid it now has far deeper causes than just state policies. - Newsweek

On the Business Models of WarBy Everett C. Dolman, Strategy Bridge: “The American military is infatuated with the latest business models and their potential application for war. Bureaucracies are not agile organizations, as a rule, and just as the Pentagon institutes the previous decade’s top-selling business management method, it seems corporate America has already moved on to the Next Big Thing.”

The Power of Amphibious Operations in the 21st Century By Daniel Gouré, RealClearDefense: “Predicting the demise of amphibious warfare has been a hobby for many military historians, defense analysts and even veterans. The advent of new military capabilities, such as jet aircraft, quiet attack submarines, ballistic and cruise missiles, long-range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and, of course, nuclear weapons, repeatedly caused the U.S. defense establishment to question the feasibility of large-scale amphibious operations. Most recently, critics point to the rise of so-called anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities.”

Historical Misinnovation in National Security and Intelligence TechnologyBy Joseph Caddell & Robert Stiegel, War on the Rocks: “The dichotomy of “innovate or die,” however, assumes that we are destined to do either one or the other. But one can innovate and die or misinnovate and die. While there certainly are ample “innovate or die” examples in intelligence history, there are also ample examples of innovations — or what we might a call misinnovations — yielding equally disastrous results.”

Commissioning Da Vinci: Developing Creativity,Communication, and Critical Thinking in Tomorrow’s Military LeadersBy Rick Montcalm, Modern War Institute: “The future operating environment is not only complex, but unpredictable and potentially unknowable. That this prediction has been repeated so often as to risk making us numb to its significance—it is highlighted repeatedly in the Army Operating Concept and draft concept for Multi-Doman Battle—does not make it any less true. To succeed in such an environment, the Army will increasingly require leaders at all levels to demonstrate initiative to identify and exploit temporary windows of advantage while creating multiple dilemmas for the enemy.”

AT&L Reorganization Will Take Two Years By Aaron Mehta, Defense News: “The Pentagon plans to take two years to complete the reorganization of its acquisition, technology and logistics office, in order to avoid missteps as it creates two new replacement organizations.”

Weapons Acquisition and Strategic UncertaintyBy Nicolas Maldera, Strategy Bridge: “Even if there remains an on-going debate between proponents of realism and supporters of the bureaucratic/institutional school, one should assume weapons programs are at least partially initiated to counter the weapons of an enemy or potential enemy and are integrated into a larger arsenal. Strategy is a matter of rationality first.”

Reforming The Army's Acquisition SystemBy Daniel Gouré, The National Interest: “Just a month ago, the U.S. Army’s top leaders, Acting Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy and Chief of Staff General Mark Milley, announced the most far-reaching reforms of the acquisition system in two generations. A new command will be created by mid-2018 to manage and streamline Army modernization. ” ​

Social Media Field Manual: IraqBy Caroline Bechtel, Small Wars Journal: “The Iraqi MoD’s presence on social media–and Facebook in particular–has been a crucial element of its military learning process since 2014. This adaptation demonstrates that the MoD has co-opted one of its enemy’s most valuable weapons: social media.” ​

Russia's Supersonic Bombers' New Supersonic MissilesBy Dave Majumdar, The National Interest: “Russia is planning to upgrade its fleet of Tupolev Tu-22M3 Backfire intermediate range bombers with new engines and avionics. The first of 30 modernized supersonic bombers will make its first flight next year if all goes as planned.”

New launch video reveals Russia’s Iskander-M, showing the powerful, short-range missile in action. The missile would have enough range to strike targets across the NATO alliance's eastern edge, threatening Poland and the Baltic countries. Russia has also sent the missile to Syria. - Popular Mechanics

Prepared for the Battle But Not for the War By Linton Wells II, Proceedings Magazine: “The United States must think beyond traditional concepts of defense and prepare for a complex, unstable future marked by a 24-hour news cycle, multidimensional warfare, and societal turbulence. A strategic perspective is needed.”

The New Era of the Proliferated Proxy War By Andrew Mumford, Strategy Bridge: “War in the modern world is changing. Since the end of the Cold War inter-state war has declined globally, whilst even civil wars have become a relative rarity. But war is not becoming an obsolete element of human interaction.”

AEI RESEARCH: In a new AEI report, Derek Scissors finds that despite the popular talk of China’s unstoppable rise, China actually has fundamental economic challenges, including sharp resource constraints, a rapidly aging workforce, and a terrible recent record of debt accumulation. These indicate a process of stagnation, not the continued gross domestic product growth Beijing will of course report. What China should do is return to the pro-market reform of 1978–2002, which was abandoned by 2009. Rural land ownership rights and less protection of state-owned enterprises are the key elements for China to become rich.Read the full report.

Lessons of War: Military Might Can't Right Ideologies By Maurice O'Sullivan, Orlando Sentinel: “Sen. John McCain’s recent comment that the U.S. has never had a comprehensive strategic plan for the Middle East helps explain why our longest war may prove endless. But it also reveals how little national conversation we have had about the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The Civilian-Military Gap Closes in a War-Weary NationBy David Craig, RealClearDefense: “October 7, 2001 marked the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and the first of the wars in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. The U.S. is now in its 17th year of war, which has expanded well beyond the originally targeted hotbed of terrorism and Osama bin Laden’s base of operations. Most recently, the loss of American lives during operations in Niger has brought heightened attention to the extent of the U.S. military’s role in conflicts under the auspices of Congress’s authorization for use of military force (AUMF), also in its 17th year.” ​

The New Testament of Strategic Innovation By J. Wellington Brown, Strategy Bridge: “Technology and military organizations exist in a paradoxical relationship. The relentless march of science creates pressure on strategists and their organizations to adopt novel technology and adapt their doctrine. This pressure can derive from technological innovation by one’s own scientists as well as the fear of what a potential enemy is developing on its side. Yet, as political scientist Stephen Rosen points out, organizations, and especially military organizations, have difficulty changing because “they are designed not to change.””

Pentagon: DoD Must Move at the Pace of the Warfighter By Patrick Shanahan, Defense One: “Swarming drones on the battlefield and sophisticated cyber attacks on our networks are obvious examples of how technology continues to transform the art of war. The Department of Defense must adapt much faster.”

At War Next Week’: Bob Work on Readiness, Modernization & COCOMs By Sydney Freedberg, Breaking Defense: “It can’t build up war-ready forces to deter Russia and China while engaging in non-stop operations around the world, the way we have since 1991. If we have to choose – and we do have to, he said – modernization must take priority over growth and warfighting must take priority all other missions.”

How the U.S. Army Should Arm Itself for New Threats By Brian Green, Defense One: “The Army's budget is woefully short of what it needs to recapitalize and modernize, and gridlock in Congress has again doomed the Army to the budget hell of a continuing resolution. If ever the Army were ever to think creatively about how to meet the extraordinary demands it faces, now would be the time.”

The Pentagon is underfunded and overtasked and out of options. @jedbabbin

Mattis is hitting the high points. We know that military aviation, to cite one critical example, has hit a dangerously low point. Late last year, about 70% of Marine F-18 aircraft were unfit to fly in combat. Earlier this year, reports from Air Force sources said that about 30% of the entire Air Force fleet of aircraft was in the same sad shape. The Navy is suffering about as badly as the other two services.

The Air Force is about 1,500 pilots short of mission requirements. It lacks the aircraft, fuel, and senior pilots to train new pilots quickly enough. On Friday, President Trump signed an executive order allowing the Air Force to recall to active duty up to 1,000 pilots who had either retired or separated from active duty. Before that order only 25 could be recalled each year. This is going to be hard on those recalled, who may have to leave high-paying civilian jobs, but it’s obviously necessary.

Paying those pilots, and funding their operations, is going to cost a lot of money that — because sequestration spending levels are maintained — will have to be robbed from other operations, maintenance, and training.https://spectator.org/mattiss-insomnia/

20 Years of the Mighty F-22 RaptorByDave Majumdar, The National Interest: “The United States Air Force held a ceremony earlier last month to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor's first flight.”

Turning Point: The F-35 May Not Deliver By Richard Levine, The National Interest: “The story, therefore, of the epochal F-35 fighter program begins with the Edsel, though not in the colloquial meaning of the word. The story of the F-35 begins with the actual car named Edsel.”​

Improving Close Air Support:An Army-Air Force Collaborative ApproachBy David S. Chadsey, Jason Feuring & Clement W. Rittenhouse, Small Wars Journal: “During recent operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, CAS has increasingly become an essential aspect of effective Unified Land Operations. From the perspective of ground forces in contact, U.S. and allied dominance of the air domain has given CAS a “Dial 911” like quality.”

Extending the Range of the U.S. Navy's E-2D Advanced HawkeyeBy Dave Majumdar, The National Interest: ““Passing fuel for the first time airborne is a significant milestone in the development of this critical technology for the E-2D, which increases the range and persistence of command and control the E-2D provides to U.S. and allied forces,” Capt. Keith Hash, E-2/C-2 Airborne Tactical Data Systems (PMA-231) program manager, said in a statement.”